lotrfandomcom-20200223-history
Belegost
Belegost was one of two Dwarven cities located in the Blue Mountains during the First Age in Middle-earth.The Silmarillion (inside cover), "Map of Beleriand and the Lands to the North" History Belegost was one of the seven great kingdoms of the Dwarves.The History of Middle-earth, Vol. 12: The Peoples of Middle-earth, X: "Of Dwarves and Men" With her sister realm, Nogrod, Belegost was dug deep beneath Mount Dolmed in the Blue Mountains in the Ages of Stars. Amongst the Dwarves of Belegost were the finest smiths and stone-carvers in Middle-earth. In their armourer's halls they made many bright weapons and were the first people to forge chain-mail. The Dwarves of Belegost traded with the Sindar Elves of Beleriand and supplied them with weapons of incomparably tempered steel; furthermore these Dwarves carved the stone chambers of Menegroth. One of their payments for these services was Nimphelos, a great pearl.The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter X: "Of the Sindar" In the First Age, the Dwarves of Belegost and their lord, Azaghâl, won great fame in the War of the Jewels. In the Nírnaeth Arnoediad, the Dwarves alone could withstand the heat of the Dragon-fire because being a race of smiths were used to great heat and on their helms they wore masks of steel. Their axes too that they forged were strong enough to hold the Dragons in check. Though Azaghâl was slain, he wounded Glaurung, the Father of Dragons and the Dragon brood fled the battleground, all the way back to Angband.The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter XX: "Of the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Arnoediad" The Dwarves of Belegost were asked by the Dwarves of Nogrod for aid in their war against Doriath, but were refused.The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter XXII: "Of the Ruin of Doriath" At the end of the First Age, Belegost was ruined in the War of Wrath, and around the fortieth year of the Second Age, the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains began to migrate to Khazad-dûm, abandoning Nogrod and Belegost.The Atlas of Middle-earth, The Second Age, "Refugee Relocation" Although a great many Dwarves did indeed emigrate across Eriador some forty years after the war to join with Durin's folk in Khazad-dûm, the mountains and flatlands north and west of the Little Lhûn remained Dwarf country. It seems likely that those who lived there stayed politically independent from Khazad-dûm, despite presumably much reduced circumstances: the seven Rings of Power given to seven Dwarf-lords during the Second Age, for example, are analogous with the Dwarves' seven clans, amongst whom the Firebeards and Broadbeams are numbered. Additionally, one of Tolkien's earlier maps, as shown by Christopher Tolkien in The Treason of Isengard (and echoed in Karen Wynn Fonstad's Atlas of Middle-earth), still shows Belegost in the Ered Luin in the time of the Third Age, indicating that Belegost has survived the upheavals of the Second and early Third Ages, or that at least a more recognizable mansion had persisted there than at Nogrod. There are sighting of migration to Belegost and Norgrod in the late Third age, and early Fourth age by the Dwarf-lords of the Firebeards, and Broadbeams. Inhabitants In the twelfth volume of The History of Middle-earth, The Peoples of Middle-earth, an essay appears entitled Of Dwarves and Men which sheds some light on the people of Belegost. Circumstantial evidence given there suggests that the Dwarves of Belegost were unrelated to Durin's Folk, the Longbeards that appear in Tolkien's better-known work, and instead belonged to a different clan, either the Firebeards or the Broadbeams. The word-order used there suggests that Belegost was founded by the Broadbeams, while nearby Nogrod was populated by the Firebeard clan. Etymology Belegost was a Sindarin word for "mighty or great fortress". Its name in Westron was Mickleburg'', '' and the Khuzdul name for it was Gabilgathol.The Silmarillion, Index of Names Translations References ca:Belegost de:Belegost es:Belegost it:Belegost pl:Belegost ru:Белегост Category:Sindarin words Category:Dwarven Cities Category:Beleriand